MM3: Organizational development as applied in COP21
In the year 2015 between 30th November and 11 December the Paris climate conference COP21 was a conference held in Paris (Configurations of finish industries, 2015). The main focus of the conference was for the G20 countries to reach a legally binding decision on climate protection measures that will be observed globally. There was need for structural change of The Confederation of Finish Industries (EK). More countries were to be involved and therefore a much advanced communication links had to be taken in to consideration (Moorhead, 1992). There was also a need to involve the management of various industries and companies on their strategic measures in combating environmental pollutions. In order to run the EK developed countries had to agree on financial measures to be put in place in order to support the programs and attain their goals especially in the developing countries. Emissions had to be significantly reduced such as the biggest emitting countries would tighten their targets so be at the same level as (European Union) EU targets (Configurations of finish industries, 2015). The case presented is typical of the implication of organizational development as denoted by Griffin and Moorhead.
The main trigger for the COP21 conference was the ongoing climate change which has disastrous effects such as destruction of the ozone layer, global warming, environmental pollution (air, soil and water). In order to achieve this some changes had to be made; this involved intense planning on how to approach the G20 countries, the legal implications and changes on emissions. The intense planning consisted of consultation with the existing departments to help in improving the effectiveness of the organization just like stated by Griffin and Moorhead regarding significance of OD.
COP21 had a system wide kind of organization. There were so many companies across the globe that was involved. Decisions could therefore not just be arrived at personal level, say by Mikael Ohlstrom who is the chief policy adviser of EK. Decision making was tasked with environmental experts, the EU and C.E.Os of major companies. In order for the countries to abide by the laws put in place to overcome environmental eradication major ways to reward companies had to be put in place. For example some amount of money was set aside for conferences, meetings, educative campaign and motivation of people towards preserving the environment. According to Griffin and Moorhead the process of integrating educative campaign and motivation helps in empowering the individuals towards creating effective change.
Some of the challenges faced by the organization were getting the G20 countries to agree on the desired environmental terms. There was also a concern for the developing countries because with the already existing financial constraint implementing some of the laws could be unfavorable to them. The involvement of private sectors and companies across the globe was imperative. There needs to be structural changes to facilitate involvement by other stakeholders (Wheatley et al, 2003).
In order to improve the organization’s effectiveness Finland which is the global market for cleantech and bio economy was involved. The organization believed that the resultant positive effect of the structural change would cause growing exports of waste management, energy production, agricultural production and purification of water after assigning roles (Griffin & Moorhead, 2014). The Finnish industries were also involved in reducing global emissions so as to not to burden Finland. The communication with private sectors was also crucial so that they fill motivated and get involved in the environmental conservations (Griffin & Moorhead, 2014).
The organizational team was also rearranged to include various departments such as the team for climate and resource, energy and material team, cleantech and sustainability team and the private sectors. Some of the long-term goals that were put in place were inclusive of ensuring at least the G20 countries abide by the laws. The goals were uniting the people into one thing since they were set in such a way that every member country’s problem is solved (Jex, 2002). This included wood industries and production of energy in countries like Finland not to have restrictions and finally the innovations and investments of companies had to be geared towards climate change.
For COP21 organization to be able to implement the desirable changes by 2020 the respective teams need to be intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to work towards achieving this. Effective reorganizations of the managerial structure should also be implemented. The main persons to influences and implement this structural changes include executive managers of the organization (McLean, 2006).
References
Configurations of finish industries (2015). Legally Binding Climate Commitments for G20 Countries Needed. Retrieved from: http://ek.fi/en/current/2015/11/18/legally-binding-climate-commitments-needed-of-g20-countries-in-paris-cop21/
Griffin, R. W., & Moorhead, G. (2014). Organizational behavior: Managing people and organizations. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning.
Wheatley, M., Tannenbaum, R., & Griffin, P. Y. (2003). Organization Development at Work: Conversations on the Values, Applications, and Future of OD. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Jex, S. M. (2002). Organizational psychology: A scientist-practitioner approach. New York: Wiley.
McLean, G. N. (2006). Organization development: Principles, processes, performance. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
